Sunday, August 15, 2010

They are through singles on day two of the 15th International Racquetball Federation (IRF) World Championships in Seoul, South Korea, and the matches weren't as close as on day one. Most of the top seeds have gone through, but not all as 2nd seeded Jennifer Saunders of Canada lost to Mexican Nancy Enriquez, 15-9, 15-9, in the quarter finals. Enriquez will play Cheryl Gudinas (USA) in the semi-finals, as Gudinas defeated Maria Jose Vargas of Bolivia, 15-9, 15-7.

There's also a Mexico-USA match up on the other side of the women's draw, as defending World Champion Rhonda Rajsich (USA) will face Paola Longoria (Mexico) in battle of the two top players on the Women's Professional Racquetball Organization (WPRO) tour. In the quarters, Rajsich defeated Maiko Sato of Japan, 15-7, 15-11 and Longoria beat Jin Young Seak of South Korea, 15-3, 15-4.

Both American men also won their singles matches in the Round of 16, as defending champion Rocky Carson defeated Luis Perez of the Dominican Republic, 15-6, 15-9, and Jack Huczek dropped only 6 points to Ivan Villegas of Costa Rica, winning 15-2, 15-4.

The battle of Pan American Champions went to the more recent one, as the 2010 champion Ricardo Monroy of Bolivia defeated the 2006 champion Kris Odegard of Canada, 15-9, 15-0. Monroy will now face Mexican Alejandro Landa in the quarter finals, as Landa beat Fernando Rios of Ecuador, 15-4, 13-15, 11-7.

The men's quarter finals and semi-finals as well as the women's semi-finals will be played on Monday. Doubles play is still to come on Sunday.

The IRF has indicated that matches can be viewed over the web via their website, but it's not working for us here in The Racquetball Blog offices, and we're trying to find out why.